The Undying
by IndigoMoose
Summary: The Doctor travels with Clara to the Amazon Rainforest. There he meets an old foe, the Rani, and the victims of her latest experiment. Have you ever wondered why Time Lords have two hearts?
1. Chapter 1

**THE UNDYING**

The Doctor sat alone at the counter in a cozy diner with a friendly fifties theme. A wide eyed waitress with the name Oswin on her name tag served him a plate of pancakes with syrup.

"Are you sure you don't have any soufflé?" the Doctor asked.

"Pancakes are the house specialty," the waitress said firmly. "Best thing in Perivale."

The Doctor poked at the pancakes with his fork. "Oswin… that's an unusual name," he comments.

"It's a nickname. My friend Ace gave it to me," the waitress answered.

"You're friends with Ace?"

"Uh-huh," said the waitress as she wiped the counter with a rag. "How do you know her?"

The Doctor straightened his bow-tie. "She was a travelling companion."

"You're the one she called the Professor? You don't look a thing like she described."

"I prefer to be called the Doctor," he grumbled.

"Oh, okay. No judgements. Is she still traveling with you?"

"Uh… no," the Doctor answers. "I uh … I set her up at the Academy."

"Nice!" said the waitress with a toothy grin.

"I hoped it would be…" replied the Doctor, mostly to himself.

"Who travels with you now?" the waitress asked, beginning to take off her apron.

"Actually, Clara –"

"No one has called me Clara since the fifth grade," the waitress interrupted him. She ducked down behind the counter for a moment.

"Do you mind if I call you Clara? It'd be such a bother to get used to Oswin…"

"If that's what it takes to go on an adventure," Clara Oswin answered as she stepped out from behind the counter. "That is what you were about to say, right?" She slung a satchel over her shoulder and began to quickly walk towards the back of the diner.

"Yes. Wait, where are you going? How much did Ace tell you?" The Doctor chased Oswin as she walked out the back door into the alley and found the blue police box parked next to the dumpsters.

***{+==]**

"Well, is there a certain place you'd like to visit first?" the Doctor asked as Clara Oswin marveled at the interior of the TARDIS.

Clara beams and pulled a small book out of her satchel. "I have this book, One-hundred one places to See." She opened to a random page. "The Amazon Rain Forest..." she began to read.

"Please..." moaned the Doctor.

"It says here that the Amazon Rain Forest is a place of unparalleled biodiversity."

She held the book out for the Doctor to look. He barely glanced at it.

Clara queried, "Have you even been to the Amazon?"

"What? Of course I – well there was this one time I flew over-" He is clearly flustered. "Alright, fine. No," he admitted.

Clara repeated, "No? You visit London and New York and Perivale of all places, but you've never even bothered-"

"Fine, Oswald. You wanna go? We'll go. Let's go to the Amazon Rain Forest."

The Doctor pushed the buttons and pulled the necessary levers.

**{+==]**

In a laboratory, a woman in a lab coat is distilled liquids and thoughtfully made notes. Behind her were birds in cages and large pieces of high-tech equipment. She looked up from her work when she heard an unusual whirring sound coming from outside. She softly whispered to herself, "No... could it be...?"

She rushed out of the room, taking off the lab coat as she went. Underneath the coat was a fitted, shiny green jacket, tight pants in a matching color, and tall, rugged boots.

In a small clearing in the rainforest, the TARDIS appeared in all its blue glory. It stood out like a jewel amid the bright green plants of the rainforest. The woman peeks out from behind a large tree. "It _is_ him!" she smiled a tight, knowing smile. "After all these years!"

The TARDIS door opened. The woman hid behind the large tree. The Doctor and Clara stepped out, rubbing lotion on their skin. The Doctor, ever eager to change hats, was wearing a pith helmet.

"Make sure the lotion is completely rubbed in," the Doctor instructed.

"Now how good is this stuff?"

The Doctor proclaimed, "Anti-venom, anti-toxin, anti—well the list of things it doesn't protect against would probably be shorter." Stepping out in front of his one person tour group, he turned and asks, "How's my face? Did I get everywhere?" Clara nodded.

The woman came out of her hiding place once she was sure the two were gone. She approached the TARDIS. Smirking, she took a key out of her pocket. Without hesitation, she unlocked the door. With one last glance over her shoulder, she let herself in.

She found herself in the main control room of the Doctor's time traveling machine. She talks to herself, as she walks confidently about the space, looking at the various control panels.

"Oh, he's really changed it since last time. I wonder how much he's changed? Ah, here we go..."

She located the panel she was looking for, a key-board with Gallifreyan lettering. She typed quickly and carefully. A screen slide up from below. On the screen was a picture of the current Doctor, with his various stats, including his age.

"That young and on his eleventh regeneration already? Really! He'll be needing the elixir before I have perfected it. What's he been doing with his lives?"

*{+==]*

Meanwhile, the Doctor and Clara are enjoying their exploration of the rainforest. "Ah, the Amazon Rainforest. I can't believe I didn't visit here sooner..." The Doctor stopped to admire a small lizard climbing a tree. "You just don't get a flora-fauna blend quite like this anywhere else. All around me I see life!"

A large bird swooped in front of the Doctor's face, snatched the lizard off the tree branch and flew away.

"And death..." the Doctor paused in brief thought. "Life and Death! All around me I see the _cycle_ of life!"

The pair trudged on, with no more thought to the fate of the lizard and bird. However, the lizard deserved more attention. The bird, in mid-flight, decided the lizard tasted awful and spat it out. The lizard landed on the ground with a thud, clearly dead. Then, the lizard began emitting a golden glow.


	2. Chapter 2

In the TARDIS, the lady in green was watching the Matrix screen. Though it hadn't been used in a while, it still worked well. It showed her the highlights and intriguing details of the Doctor's past adventures .

"Oh, this stuff is good! I should get some pop-corn." She paused the viewing screen and strolls out of the room. She knows where to find a pantry in a TARDIS.

*{+==]**

Back in the rainforest, the glow around the lizard diminished; a new lizard, with slightly different markings was in the dead lizard's place. The creature woke, shook itself off, and began to wander about. It strolled across the Doctor's foot, but went completely unnoticed.

The Doctor invited a poisonous tree frog to jump into her hand.

Clara rushed over and grabbed his wrist. "Doctor! Don't do that!"

"Relax," the Doctor chided. "What good is wearing anti-poison lotion if you don't touch anything deadly?" He cheerfully handed the small frog to Clara.

"Doctor, how strong is that lotion?"

"Very strong, until it wears off," the Doctor replied nonchalantly.

"When does it wear off?" she asked, as three more little tree frogs hopped onto her shoulders and head.

"I'd say... two hours? three tops. How long have we been out here?"

Clara dropped the frog. "Long enough that I shouldn't be touching colorful frogs." Clara groaned, "I don't feel so good." She started to feel weak in her knees.

The Doctor caught her before she fell. "Never to worry. Definitely something in the TARDIS medicine cabinet."

*{+==]**

Back in the Doctor's TARDIS, the lady had just viewed one of the 9th Doctor's adventures. She hit pause and rewind, then rewatched the moment. On the screen was the Doctor, as his ninth self, telling Rose that he knew he was the only Time Lord left, because he would feel it if it were otherwise. The scientist rewound and watched again, laughing at the presumptuous nature of the man in a leather jacket.

The Doctor throws open the TARDIS doors. Clara was fading in and out of consciousness. The woman paused the clip and took notice of the Doctor and his new companion. She stayed silent, but mades no attempt to hide or flee.

The Doctor tries to make Clara comfortable. "Okay," he instructed, "You stay here. I'll go find... whatever it is."

"You don't even know what will cure me?"

"I'm not that kind of Doctor!" he exclaimed as he darted out of the room.

Clara noticed the dark-haired woman wearing green kneeling by her side. A small syringe was in her hand.

"Tree frog poisoning?" the woman asked in a brisk voice.

Clara blinked. "Yes. Wait – who are y-"

"This'll do the trick." She injected Clara in the arm. Clara snaps to and shakes herself.

"What was that?" Ethel asked.

The Doctor reentered the room and immediately turned to the stranger, "Who are you? How'd you get in here?"

The woman answered Clara's question in a calm and professional manner, "That was an antidote to the poison I invented. You're lucky you were wearing anti-poison lotion. You would have been dead within seconds otherwise."

The Doctor spoke-up, "I believe the frogs are poisonous naturally. What do you mean you invented the poison?"

The woman turned to him with a coy grin. "Alright, I should say improved. After just a few months of research, I was able to triple the toxicity of all the blue ones."

Clara said, "You still haven't answered our first two questions."

"I beg your pardon?" the woman asked

Ethel repeated the earlier questions, "Who are you? And -"

The Doctor took over, "and how did you get in here? Yes. I'm particularly interested in that."

"I had a key," answered the woman.

"How does someone get a TARDIS key?" Clara asked.

The woman calmly explained, "It comes with every Time Traveling capsule. A manufacturing flaw – all Type 40 TT vessels have the same lock design."

"And when did you get a Type 40?" the Doctor demanded.

The lady in green smirked, "When I graduated from the academy." She narrowed her eyes at the Doctor, "When did you get yours?"

"Which academy?"

"Prydonian Academy. On Gallifrey."

Clara's eyes light up. "You're a Time Lord! Or... Time Lady, if you prefer -"

"No, don't be fooled. I'm the only Gallifreyan left," the Doctor assured Clara.

The woman in green burst out laughing. She stopped chuckling long enough to say, "The only one left! Yes! That's what the Matrix said, too."

"The Matrix?" Clara asked.

The Doctor quickly provided the answer. "The Matrix is a device that records everything that happens in and around the TARDIS and plays it back on command." The Doctor turned to the woman. "What were you laughing about? What did you see?"

"Just this," the woman answered. She swiveled the screen towards them and clicked a button to un-pause.

The woman mimics the 9th Doctor's somber tone and touches her forehead, "I'd know; in here."

She shakes her head as she turns off the screen. "Help me understand this, Doctor. You find yourself unable to sense other members of your species, so there are two possibilities." She started to pace about the room like she owned the place. "Option one: every other Gallifreyan in the universe has ceased to exist, OR option two: your sensor is shot."

The Doctor's brow furrowed. The woman continued, "And you, you arrogant ass, you choose to believe the first. You'd rather think that all Time Lords have been wiped out than consider you have a rebirth defect. You, who spent an entire regeneration cycle in a human morgue instead of a proper TT capsule... you, who interrupted a regeneration cycle and stored the energy in a severed hand..." She took a deep breath in and out. "Yeah, there's no way your buzzer's busted!" she said sarcastically. She rolled her eyes. "Please..."

The Doctor collapsed into a chair. "All this time..."

Clara rests her hand on his shoulder. "Doctor! We could go looking for them."

"Oh, where? Not like the TARDIS knows where to look," the Doctor continues to let the news of his rebirth defect sink in.

Clara persisted, "It knows where not to look. We're just gonna have to go to places we've never been before."

"Why do I smell popcorn?" the Doctor asks. He looked up. His eyes darted about the room "Where did she go?"

Clara shrugged. The Doctor leapt up from his seat. He returned the Matrix screen back to its proper position. "How did that woman say she got in?"

"She had a key," says Clara.

The Doctor checks his pocket for his sonic screwdriver and heads towards the door quickly.

"We need to follow her," announced the Doctor. "We need to find out what she's doing in this rainforest."

"What do you care why one random Time Lady chose to live in the Amazon?"

The Doctor looks at Clara with a very serious expression on his face, "Oh, she's no random Time Lady. There is only one woman who would still own a Type 40 TARDIS."

"Who?"

The Doctor sneered, "The Rani." Then, the Doctor pushed past Clara to another room.

Clara found him rapidly rifling through a closet.

"The Rani? Who is she?" Clara asked.

The Doctor answered Clara's question without ceasing his search. "Back on Gallifrey, she was a talented bio-chemist." He tossed an unidentifiable piece of junk over his shoulder. "After one of her creatures got loose and tried to kill the President, they banished her from the entire planet." More stuff was tossed aside, landing with a crunch and a jingle. "Of course _she_ wasn't in the Time War! I've been thinking about this all wrong! This changes everything! There must be a half-dozen banished Time Lords floating about this universe, not even knowing the Time War was going on until too late. And refugees! Every war has refugees... Little Wanderers of the Galaxy, settling down, marrying other humanoids, having little half-Gallifreyans..." the Doctor became lost in his musings. In his arms he cradled a strange hunk of technology.

Clara pointed to the bizarre object. "Is that what you were looking for?"

The Doctor shooks himself to refocus on the task at hand. "Yes! My Visual Recognition System." The Doctor elaborated, "The Rani's TARDIS still has a working chameleon circuit. This will help us find her. Smashed visual receiver, so it won't work perfect, but it'll be able to tell a regular tree from a disguised spacecraft."

With gusto, the Doctor exited the TARDIS. Clara followed.


	3. Chapter 3

"And why are we looking for her specifically?" Clara inquired. "Don't you think it is more important that you find the rest of the Gallifreyans? Think of it! You could reunite with friends and relatives!"

The Doctor was stepping quickly but lightly, aiming the device at different large objects.

"Wait... it _she_ a relative?"

"No," replied the Doctor.

Clara pressed, "Friend? _Girlfriend_?"

"Oh! As if!"

"So... what is she then?"

"The Rani's experiments have always ranged from the suspiciously amoral to the downright evil." He scanned a large flowering bush. "She's in the Amazon for a reason; and it probably isn't a good one."

"I thought she said she was perfecting frog poison."

"The frogs are side project to pass the time." the Doctor said firmly. "She would never think so small as amping amphibian toxicity. No, the real project is something much bigger."

The machine began beeping when the Doctor aimed it at a large, mossy tree.

Clara smirked. "Well, that's lucky! We parked practically right next to her."

The Doctor shoved the VRS into Clara's arms. "Maybe it isn't luck," he said. "I think that the TARDIS stopped here on purpose. Maybe she senses more than I give her credit for."

"How do we get in?" asked Clara.

The Doctor reaches into his pocket. "Same way she got in mine."

The Doctor slid his own key into a mossy patch. Nothing happened. He was bothered that his moment to look clever was ruined. He tried a few more mossy patches and blossoms around the tree. Finally, an opening appears in the tree. The Time Lord entered confidently, followed cautiously by the waitress from Perivale.

They entered a control room much like the Doctor's, but it had a definite Rani twist. It was soft green, like a hospital ward, with tall triangular panes, instead of the round windows.

Clara remarked, "Well, it's bigger on the inside, like yours."

Doctor strolled out a doorway and into a corridor, looking all around and peering into corners. The Doctor was musing to himself, "The TARDIS changes with its Time Lord."

The Doctor, again taking up the role of unrequested tour guide, began talking to his companion. "It was said you could tell everything about a Time Lady just by looking in the first five rooms off the TT control center." He opened a door. Clara saw a luxurious, King Louis type bedroom. She moved to step inside, but the Doctor quickly closed the door and continued towards another room.

The Doctor pondered, "I wonder what Romana's capsule would have looked like..."

"Romana?"

"A Gallifreyan I knew years ago. Traveled with my fourth self. Left me to work with some Leonines in E-space..."

"Can the same be said about a Time Lord?" Clara asked.

"The five rooms rule? Doubt it. I used to have a cloister bell."

Doctor opened a door, then looked back at Clara with raised brows. He had found the Rani's laboratory.

The Rani was not in her laboratory. The Doctor looked around impressed, yet concerned. He picked up various beakers and gadgets, muttering to himself. "Oh, I've always wanted one of those... but what is she using it for?"

Clara saw the glass cages of large, odd looking, yet beautiful birds. "Oh! Doctor! Look!"

The Doctor trotted over to the cages. "I told you she wasn't just improving frogs! Look she's created an entirely new species of bird."

"How can you tell it was created by her? The rainforest is home to so many creatures, scientists haven't even discovered them all. That's what the book said."

"And that is precisely why the Rani would choose such a place. She can create dozens of new a bizarre creatures and no one would even notice! Just chalk it up to the wondrous biodiversity of the Amazon Rainforest."

"Fine, but creating animals hardly seems evil..." Clara insisted.

"Oh, there's got to be more to this than meets the eye," the Doctor replied.

The Doctor returned to inspecting the lab equipment while Clara continued to marvel at the birds. Suddenly, Clara felt a pinch in her neck. She quickly brings up her hand finds a small tranquilizer dart has pierced her skin. Clara falls to the floor. The Rani approached silently and dragged her new captive across the floor. She carefully rolled her onto a low platform. Stepping on a pedal, the Rani raised the platform to surgery-table height. Rani turned around and was startled by the Doctor.

"What have you done to Clara?" the Doctor demands to know.

"Nothing. I've hit her with a mild tranquilizer. See for yourself."

The Doctor rushed to Clara's side. He checked her breathing and looked her over, but he didn't have any medical knowledge, so he wasn't sure what to look for. He began a civil chat with the Rani. "I see you're no longer collecting dinosaurs. Birds now?"

The Rani puffs out her chest. "Oh, I didn't just collect these birds," she bragged. "They are genetically and bio-chemically enhanced."

"Are they now?" the Doctor said, trying to hide his distrust and disgust for this Time Lady.

"You wanna see?"

"I'm not sure I do," the Doctor answered. Then, after a brief pause, "Yes."

The Rani tapped the front of the glass cage with her knuckle. The bird fluttered and shifted its weight. The Rani then pushed two buttons on the front of the cage, and threw a lever on the wall. The cage lit up as the bird was zapped with electric current. The Doctor recoiled in disgust.

The bird's carcass lay at the bottom of the cage. Then, a soft glow emitted from its body. The body changed, slightly different plumage, eyes, beak – same species, but clearly not the same bird. The new bird gave a loud squawk, stretched its wings and returned to its perch.

"As you can see," said the Rani proudly, "The bird can regenerate."

The Doctor slapped his hands together. "That is astounding. How did you – It isn't possible to – it must have taken a life-time to – The genetic manipulation necessary alone is just mind-boggling!"

"Yes, it is. Unfortunately, too mind-boggling even for me," the Rani sighed.

"But, we just witnessed regeneration!"

"True, but not a natural regeneration," the Rani says. "It's chemically induced."

"What? You mean there's a pill people can pop and they're what… death-proof?"

"An injection, not a pill; but otherwise, yes," responded the Rani. She further explained, "Each injection allows the receiver double the lives it would otherwise live. Give this bird one dose, it lives two lives, a second dose, four, a third dose, eight... For a Time Lord on his eleventh life... I'm sure you're thinking how nice it would be to have 15 more lives rather than just two."

"How do you make it?" asked the Doctor. "The injection. What is it you are injecting?"

The Rani responded, "Follow me."

Doctor looks over his shoulder at Clara, who is still unconscious on the platform table.

"Don't worry about the young woman," the Rani said calmly. "She'll be out for a while."

The Doctor followed the Rani into an adjoining room. It was a terrarium with small pools and places for growing crystals and corral. The Rani put on goggles and gloves. She indicated that the should either do the same or stand back. She went over to a pool and harvested a clump of crystals and a chunk of corral. Then she placed each in a separate mortar. With passionate precision, she used a pestle to grind each into powder.

The Doctor scoffed, "Don't tell me you're grinding up Cadon crystals and TT corral."

As the Doctor speaks, the Rani is measuring and mixing the powders with a clear liquid. "Ancient physicians tried using those to increase the number of regenerations."

"I am well aware," the Rani stated. "Of course, all the ancients could manage was getting a wicked high."

"And, " the Doctor added, "If you did it too often, you would regenerate addicted to the stuff. Never tried it, myself..."

The Rani was holding a small, furry creature in one hand and a syringe in the other.

She spokes, "And, if you give too much to creatures that lack regenerative abilities …"

The Doctor protested, "Oh, please don't..."

It was too late, the Rani injected the squirming creature. It glowed a brilliant array of colors, then froze in an albino form.

"You killed it," the Doctor said.

"Death from an overdose of life!" the Rani proclaimed.

Her eyes took on a wild joy. The Rani began walking excitedly back to the laboratory. She talked as she moved briskly. "When I learned about it in school, I couldn't believe it. It puzzled me for years. Then I figured it out. It's why we need two hearts. It is why we only have 13 lives. The organ wears out. Our first life we only have one heart, then, at death, the hormones kick in and cause the growth of the second heart." She set the frozen little body on a sterilized counter and turned her attention to a large apparatus. She continued to lecture, "The second heart isn't just for pumping blood around! It is pumping the extra life. For a brief moment, there are two complete beings in one space and time."

The Doctor chimed in, "It's part of quantum physics. Any particle can be in more than one place at one time."

"The converse isn't true," the Rani stated quickly. "Two particles can't be in the exact same place at the exact same time."

"But in regeneration, the molecules are changing – rearranging. There aren't two complete beings, in the same place and time." The Doctor objected.

"Doctor, I'm surprised at you. It isn't just the body that changes." The Rani turns a few dials and flips a few toggle switches. "Each regeneration comes with a new personality, a new set of tastes, a -"

The Doctor interrupts, "A new soul."

"Fine, if you want to get theological about it." She continued her explanation, "Yet, all the memories of the past remain. I didn't say there were two complete bodies I said there would be two complete _beings_. The second heart allows you to, in a sense, shift out of the way when the new –for lack of a better term – soul is forming." She held up the furry white statue. "This little creature isn't dead. It is simply waiting for the new being to take up its position. Now, are you ready for the cool part?"

The Rani dropped the fuzzy, frozen creature into the mouth of a large tube at the top of a machine. The machine makes a horrible whirring noise, followed by an odd, percolating sound. Out of a thin tube at the other end of the machine, drips a deep pink liquid into a vial.

The Doctor was slightly horrified. "What... is... that?"

The Rani removed her gloves. "The machine is my Liquefier and Life Extractor. And this," she picks up the vial, "is the perfect mix of hormones and chemical triggers. Or it will be after I allow it to sit a while."

Rani placed the vial in a cooling cabinet with a glass front door. She places the vial in and takes a different vial out. It is filled with a pink liquid of a richer tone.

"This one's ready. I call it Aliavix." She smiles at her captive audience. "It remains dormant in the body until one begins to die." The Rani moved back towards the other end of the laboratory. "At the time of death, the natural surge of adrenalin and other chemical compounds will set off a chain reaction with the Aliavix injection. The second heart will form - or repair as the case may be, making a regeneration possible." The Rani puts on a lab coat, new gloves, and fills a syringe with the pink liquid.

The Doctor folded his arms, "So, you're just zapping beautiful exotic birds to death and seeing if they spring back to life?"

"Of course not," exclaimed the Gallifreyan scientist. "I was at first, but a real scientist needs to get results from the field. I tag my subjects and release them back into the wild. I let them die of natural causes." She glared at the Doctor and his doubting face. "My science is solid," she insisted. "I have used two regenerations watching various creatures experience what this pink liquid can do. Fortunately, my fifth self was more mechanically inclined. It was a great day when I completed the LLE machine. And today will be even more grand."

"How so?" asked the Doctor.

The Rani smiled. The Doctor had not yet noticed that they were standing by the surgical platform. The Rani answered the Doctor's question, "I can inject my first human."

She turns around, pulls up Clara's shirt and injects the liquid into the base of her spine. The human awakens, shouting in pain.


	4. Chapter 4

Clara breathed hard, trying to take her mind off the pain. "What... what the heck was that?"

The Rani answered, "Aliavix. Serum for a second life."

The Doctor noticed that Clara was missing a shoe. On closer inspection, he discovered an odd plastic and metal chip where her toe-nail should be. "What's this thing on her toe?"

The Rani spokes soothingly. "A simple tracking device. I want to record the results of this trial. I keep records of all the creatures I inject."

The Doctor grabbed the Rani by the shoulders. "Uninject her! She gave no consent to being a victim of your -"

"I prefer the term trial participant – and I can't uninject her."

"An antidote then."

The Rani raised an eyebrow. "The antidote to life? Surely you're not asking me to kill her on the spot."

Clara shouted, "I don't want to die!"

"And with the injection I just gave you, you won't," said the Rani. "You'll regenerate. All your hopes, dreams, and memories will be held in a transitive state whilst a new body and soul form around your lifeless corpse."

The Doctor protested, "But, you can't be sure. You said Clara was the first human you've tried it on. Something could go wrong."

"I have every confidence in this current formula. I have reached a success rate of 82 percent."

Clara, trying to be optimistic, said, "Well that's encouraging."

The Doctor said, "That's an 18 percent chance of failure. An 18 percent chance that weird pink gunk just kills you."

Rani spoke firmly, "No one and no thing has ever died from an Aliavix injection."

The Doctor tilts his head in thought. "Then how are you defining this 18 percent failure, Rani?"

The Rani spread her hands. "Well, there isn't a truly scientific term for it..."

"Then tell us the unscientific term for it," Clara demanded, sitting up.

The Rani mumbled, "Zombie."

"ZOMBIE!" Clara screeched. "I'm turning into a zombie? How long do I have?"

"You're not turning into a zombie now," said the Time Lady. "At the time of death most likely you'll regenerate, you'll be a brand-new human with all the knowledge and experience that the old you gained in this life-time."

The Doctor went nose to nose with his old rival. "Don't try to gloss over the fact that she has an 18 percent chance she becomes one of the undead."

"Will I be all stiff legged and craving human flesh forever?" Clara inquired.

"Don't be ridiculous," scoffed the Rani. "Just because you don't die doesn't mean the body won't start decomposing. You'll eventually rot away. How long you have is based purely on environmental factors."

The Doctor wants to speak with the mad scientist alone. "Clara, go back to the TARDIS," he ordered.

Clara asked, "Are we going to find a suitably dry place to slow down my rotting?"

"If we need to."

"Quite talking as if you're a zombie already," said the Doctor. "You gotta actually die first."

"Keep traveling with the Doctor and it will happen soon enough," the mad scientist quipped. "Go on, I release my latest specimen back into the wild."

Clara scowled at the Rani. She hopped off the platform table and grimaced with pain. She hobbled out of the lab, glancing over her shoulder at the Doctor.

The Rani put her hand on the Doctor's shoulder. "Really, you shouldn't be so worried. I'm sure she'll be fine."

"Yeah, yeah. 82 percent chance."

"Actually, it is even higher for large mammals. Between 87 and 93."

"What larger mammals?"

The Rani grinned with a twinkle in her eye. She had no idea how unethical and amoral the Doctor thought she was. She was cuter, and much less cold than her former self, the Doctor couldn't deny that. However, perhaps it was precisely that which made her extra creepy.

The Rani called out in a clear voice, "Tracker System..."

A computerized voice responded, "Yes, Mistress?"

The Rani grinned at the Doctor. "I just love a machine that responds to audio-input. Old boyfriend made this for me using parts from a junked K-9!"

"The larger mammals?"

The Rani spoke in a measured voice, "Tracker System, please allow video display for 233, 234, 235, 237, 239, 231 alpha and 236 alpha."

Images appeared on the seven screens, each a large jungle cat.

The Rani glanced over at the Doctor. "Please don't look so troubled by the numbers. It's a classification system. I didn't start at one."

The Doctor gazed at each screen. "So, each of these felines has successfully regenerated."

"Yes."

"And the ones that … zombied?"

Rani shrugged. "In this heat and moisture? The first fell apart in less than a month."

"Are there others?"

"Tracker System, change display. Show 232 and 238."

The images on the screens changed to show two large, zombie cats prowling. As a team, the two creatures worked together to trap and take down a wild pig. The wild pig had a plastic chip clearly imbedded in its front hoof. It gave a little squeal as it was attacked.

The computer voice reported, "437 is now experiencing regeneration."

The Rani looked up with concern. "Display vital stats."

She watched another screen, nails hovering near her mouth. Numbers went up and down. Various lines and waves flickers across the screen, much like a monitor at a hospital.

The Doctor said, "Not even Time Lords can regenerate if half their flesh is in some other creature's stomach."

"Don't worry," says the Rani. "They'll run-off once the pig starts glowing."

.The system announces, "First period of regeneration successful."

The zombie cats pounced and began to feed eagerly. The Doctor could not take his eyes off the scene. The Rani was fixated on the fluctuating vitals.

"Blast it!" she said.

The system reported, "Second period of regeneration unsuccessful. 437 dead. Do you want the print-out?"

"Yes, Tracking System." The data printed quickly from a slot in the wall. The Rani tears off the print-out and scans the data. "Stupid zombies ate the pig before he could zombie or regenerate. It's not viable data at all."

The Doctor rubbed his chin. "I thought you said they would run away once it started glowing."

The Rani snapped, "Well, I'm allowed to make mistakes."

"Seems to me they were _waiting_ for it to start glowing."

The Rani opened her mouth, but said nothing for a moment. Then, in a slightly rushed tone, she ordered, "Tracking System, repeat most recent visual transmission."

The system obeys. Rani watched the zombie cats. "This is an incredible result!" she pranced about her lab. "Why didn't I think of it before?"

"What?" queried the Doctor. "That zombies don't get scared? That they crave living flesh above all else?"

The Rani shook her head. "Not just any living flesh! Regenerating flesh! See, they waited until the shift began. They somehow sensed that their prey could regenerate."

"Then why wasn't I attacked when I was exploring?"

"You must not have been in a zombie area. Oh, I do hope they don't attack your little friend. She's no good to me if she is devoured before she can provide viable data."

"Oh, she's fine. We parked practically next-door."

The Rani looked puzzled. "Next door to which door?"

The Doctor blinks and then realized. "Your TARDIS has more than one exit?"

"Of course, doesn't yours?"

The Doctor shouted out, "Tracker System, show Clara."

Nothing happened.

The Rani said, "Tracker System, video display 653."


	5. Chapter 5

Clara was muttering to herself, "Stupid Rani. She could have at least given me my shoe back before sending me out here." She stopped and panted a bit. "I could have sworn the TARDIS was just over there." She took another step. Under her bare foot, she felt something lumpy and squishy. "Oh, goodness... what did I just step on?"

Clara took a deep breath and looks at what is beneath her foot. It is a couple of fat, rotting fingers.

She heard a sound cry and, turning slowly, saw a large zombie chimp swinging towards her.

Clara forgot the pain in her back and did her best to sprint. As she ran, zombie birds, , all in various states of decay, joined the chip in pursuit. Then, zombie lemurs and lizards came crawling out of the trees. The creatures moved in a stiff fashion, but quickly enough to be scary. As Clara fled, her path became blocked by more zombie animals. She became surrounded, her back up against a big tree, a variety of zombie animals walking and creeping stiffly closer and closer. A door in the tree swings in and Clara fell backwards into Rani's Tardis.

Clara was the floor of a small kitchen with a Dutch door. The Doctor exclaimed to Rani, "Goodness! How many exterior doors do you have?"

"I'm surprised you only have one," she said. "Tsk... tsk... you went cheap, didn't get any of the extras. Bet you didn't get the extended warranty either."

Clara interrupts in exasperation, "Excuse me! I was just chased by a horde of Amazon zombies!"

"A horde?" The Doctor opened the top of the door to look.

Several rotting creatures lunged at him. The Doctor stumbled back, a small zombie lemur scratching at his face. Clara grabbed a soup ladel and beat back the other creatures trying to get through the opening. The Doctor is able thrust the creature off him and back out the window. Clara slams the door shut.

"My God!" The Doctor looked to the Rani, "Are you sure the success rate is 82 percent?"

"Positive," she answers.

"How many animals have you tested? There was a literal horde out there."

Clara gave a little gasp. "Doctor, you're bleeding. He's been bitten by a zombie!"

The Doctor shrugged. "So?"

"Everyone knows what happens when you're bitten by a zombie!"

The Doctor gave a small smile. "Oh, but not these zombies, right, Rani?"

The Rani became very serious. "Come with me," she said. "There is an antidote for zombie bites if it is administered in time."

They moved quickly to the lab. The Doctor chatted with himself as Clara and the Rani escorted him to the laboratory. "What were there, like 12 zombie animals? Plus the two big cats we saw earlier. So that represents the 18 percent failure rate, but then a zombie doesn't last more than a few months in such a humid and buggy climate ..."

The Doctor was ordered to sit on the table Clara was on earlier. The Rani, wearing gloves, applies a blue syrup to the Doctor's wounds with a cotton swab.

The Doctor reaches his conclusion. "Rani! You must have experimented on thousands of defenseless creatures over the decades."

"I wouldn't call a large jungle cat defenseless," points out Clara.

The Rani said in a business tone, "He'll want to be under sedation for the next part of the treatment."

"Are you sure?" asked Clara.

"I've been bitten by these beasts before. Trust me, he will want to be under sedation for the next part of the treatment."

The Doctor speaks passionately, "These animals are in danger of extinction."

The Rani rolls her eyes. "By the loss of habitat and food supply due to deforestation! Not because of my experiments."

"I'll put a stop to this! This is horribly wrong."

The Rani sticks the Doctor with a tranquilizer. He continues to rant. "This goes against the Shadow Proclamation; this goes against basic Earth laws. This is a complete -"

The Doctor dropped off to sleep.

"Finally!" the Rani exclaimed. "It is no fun to save someone's life when he is telling you how evil you are." The Rani continued to work while she spokes with Clara. Without Clara questioning her actions, or even really noticing, the Rani removes the Doctor's shoe and sock.

Clara slumped into a chair. "The Doctor, he's going to be okay, right?"

The Rani smiled reassuringly as she tagged the Doctor's toe. "Of course. Like I've said, I've used the zombie bite treatment on myself."

"I just can't believe the Doctor was so wrong about there being other Time Lords."

"Well, there aren't many of us," admitted. She removed a pink liquid from the cooling cabinet. "Plus, not all Gallifreyans have Time Traveling Capsules. And, unlike him, those of us with a TTC try to stay under the radar." She filled a syringe.

"What do you mean?" asked Clara.

The Rani imitated the sound of the Tardis landing, "Wheeeerrrr, wheeeerrr, big blue box." She chuckled. "Tell me, have you gone anywhere where you spend more than ten minutes unnoticed?" Clara answered, "The Doctor likes the blue box."

The Rani smirked. "Yes, it suits him. A self-proclaimed policeman of the universe, defending the human race against everyone except themselves, and defending no one else."

Doctor woke up suddenly. He started shouting as if the tranquilizer had never happened. "I will call UNIT. I will call Torchwood. I will call anyone with the power to stop you and put you away for good. I've said it in the past, you didn't need banishment, you needed a padded cell. You .. you... you injected me!"

Clara tried to calm the Doctor. "She was mending your wounds. A zombie bite vaccination."

The Doctor hops off the surgical table. "No. Rani, you injected me. That's Aliavix in the syringe, isn't it?"

"You should be thanking me, Doctor," cooed the Rani. "In you now are the biological chemicals capable of repairing any re-birth defects that your previous regenerations may have sustained. If you die in your own TARDIS, and stay there for the full regeneration, all eight of your senses will be completely restored. You will no longer have that gnawing feeling of being alone."

The Doctor scoffed. "I would rather die after only eleven lives than know I lived a single extra day because of such inhumane practices as yours. I will call UNIT. I will call Torchwood. You will be stopped. You will be locked away in Stormcage -"

She interrupted him. "They can't lock me away if they can't find me." She takes on her air of superiority once again. "They come, I move, easy. I'm not so stupid as to never get my chameleon circuit adjusted. So, run to Torchwood; notify UNIT. See if I care."

The Doctor pouts. "Come on, Clara."

The Doctor exited the room with Clara following.

He walks down the hallway leading to the proper door, which is in the control room.

"So, that's it, then?" demanded Clara. "We're giving up?"

"No, we're still going to contact the proper authorities."

"But you heard her. She can just pick up and move anywhere, be anything. She could be a castle, an ice-cream truck, whatever she wants!"

The Doctor exclaimed, "That's it!"

"What's it?"

"What if she couldn't be whatever she wants?"

"What do you mean?"

The Doctor gave a sly grin. "I can't fix a chameleon circuit. No one still living can. But I can break one."

Clara nodded. "You can get the Rani's TARDIS stuck like yours is stuck."

"Yes! Not always the exact same box, but always a _blue police_ _box_. The controls will be in this room."

"How do you know where to look?" asked Clara. "Her TARDIS is nothing like yours."

"Actually," the Doctor informed Clara, "It is exactly like mine, a Type 40. Well, at least the control room is. Just a different desk-top theme. See, we can go from asylum green to... this!"

The walls of the room changed to a soft white with dozens of round windows.

The Doctor slides over to another set of buttons and levers. "And we can change the outside to look like …. this!"

With some shifting and wriggling, the three large trees and the ground connecting them stretched and contracted into a hazy, blob of colors.

The Doctor glances at a monitor to view the results of his button pushing. "There, she'll have a hard time looking inconspicuous now. Shall we?"

The time-traveling capsule's door opened onto a familiar part of the forest. Clara could see see the blue police box not too far off. Clara and the Doctor made their way to their own TARDIS, leaving behind them a garish Viking ship.

As the Doctor powered up the TARDIS to leave, Clara asked him, "What about the zombie animals?"

The Doctor answered in an unconcerned manor, "I suppose they'll just rot away. Mother nature will have to take care of that mess."

Clara asked, "Are you thinking about it, Doctor?"

"About what?"

"About what the Rani said; you could regenerate and sense the other Time Lords."

The Doctor sighed. "I've lived alone for so long. I'm not sure what I'd be gaining is worth the risk. I mean, now that I know I'm not alone, how is feeling not alone a vast improvement?"

Clara gave a sigh. "Trust me Doctor, knowing you're not alone and feeling you're not alone are miles apart."

"On the other hand," the Doctor pointed out, "The regeneration could fail, I could turn into a zombie and have the overwhelming desire to kill and devour you."

Clara conceded, "You put off trying to regenerate as long as you like, Doctor."

* * *

 **Author's note:** _T_ hanks for reading! The next episode is The Planet of Xoanon. It is done in tribute to one of my favorite Fourth Doctor episodes, The Face of Evil.


End file.
